TAMEST Member News Roundup- March 2022
TAMEST loves to share the accolades of our membership. If you have been nominated for an award, been interviewed by the media or otherwise have a reason to celebrate, please share your news with TAMEST.
TAMEST In The News
KHOU: Meet the Houston Doctor Who Has Been Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, Past TAMEST Protégé and 2022 TAMEST Conference Speaker Maria Elena Bottazzi, Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine and TAMEST Member Peter J. Hotez, M.D., Ph.D. (NAM), Baylor College of Medicine
Houston Chronicle: John Lienhard still brings the heat in 35th year as host of public radio’s ‘Engines of our Ingenuity’, TAMEST Member John H. Lienhard, Ph.D. (NAE), University of Houston (retired)
Popular Science: Future Astronauts and Space Tourists Could Rock 3D Printed ‘Second Skin’, TAMEST Member Bonnie J. Dunbar, Ph.D. (NAE), Texas A&M University
The New York Times: How to Survive Daylight Saving Time, TAMEST Member Joseph S. Takahashi, Ph.D. (NAM, NAS), UT Southwestern Medical Center
WOAI: Push for More Black Organ Donors, TAMEST Member Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D. (NAM), UT Health San Antonio
Member Briefs
First Lady Jill Biden Visits May Cancer Center as Part of White House Initiative to Reduce Cancer Deaths
First Lady Jill Biden visited UT Health San Antonio’s Mays Cancer Center for a tour and discussion about health disparities in the Latino community related to cancer diagnosis and treatment. Biden heard from an array of cancer specialists, including TAMEST Past President Amelie Ramirez, DrPH (NAM), a UT Health San Antonio professor and associate director of Community Outreach and Engagement at the Mays Cancer Center, as part of UT Health San Antonio’s conference on cancer among Latinos. Read More
Reduced Inhibition of Hippocampal Neurons Impairs Long-Term Memory Recall in Rett Syndrome
An exciting study by researchers in the laboratory of TAMEST Member Huda Zoghbi, M.D. (NAM), Baylor College of Medicine, has discovered that diminished memory recall in Rett syndrome mice can be restored by activating specific inhibitory cells in the hippocampus. The findings are published in the current edition of Neuron. Rett syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by loss of acquired cognitive, motor, language and social skills after the first year of life as well as profound learning and memory impairments. Read More
Biomedical Engineer Rena Bizios Elected by Peers to Join National Academy of Engineering
The University of Texas at San Antonio this month announced that TAMEST Member Rena Bizios, Ph.D. (NAM, NAE), The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) has been elected as a 2022 member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) for her contributions to the theory and applications of cellular tissue engineering, cell/biomaterial interactions and surface modification biomaterials. Combined with Bizios’ election to the National Academy of Medicine in 2015 and her election to the National Academy of Inventors in 2019, this most recent honor makes Bizios the only full-time faculty member in UTSA history to be elected to three U.S. national academies. Read More
An Organic Insecticide is More Damaging to Non-Target Insects than Synthetics
Large-scale insecticide application is a primary weapon in the control of insect pests in agriculture but we know that around the world, insect populations are decreasing in size by about 1% each year; this decrease is largely in insects that are not pests. The current study, a collaboration between the Baylor College of Medicine, University of Melbourne, the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital and the University of Texas, supports that organic insecticides are not as harmless as they are thought to be. TAMEST Member Hugo Bellen, Ph.D. (NAS), Baylor College of Medicine is a corresponding author on the research. The work also adds to a growing body of evidence indicating that insecticides are contributing to the global decline in population sizes of many beneficial insect species. Read More
Temperature Variation Could Help New Touchscreen Technology Simulate Virtual Shapes
High-fidelity touch has the potential to significantly expand the scope of what we expect from computing devices, making new remote sensory experiences possible. The research on these advancements, led by a pair of researchers from the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, could help touchscreens simulate virtual shapes. TAMEST Member M. Cynthia Hipwell, Ph.D. (NAE), Texas A&M University is studying friction at the finger-device level, while Jonathan Felts is researching friction in the interaction between single skin cells and the glass of the touchscreen interface. The two are bringing together their respective areas of expertise to apply friction principles at the microscopic level to finger-device interaction mechanics. Read More
